LearningQUEST: Flights of Fancy in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Instructor: Dr. Angela Balla and Dr. Chad Thomas
Dates: November 3, 10 & 17
Time: 5:00 to 6:15 PM
Location: UAH-UC Room 126

In three sessions, the class will explore a number of the imaginary possibilities proposed by Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Sessions will focus, in turn, on the pagan and classical mythology that ground the play, the inventive and descriptive language that Shakespeare uses in writing the dialogue, and the performative challenges inherent in this romantic comedy. Through a directed survey, the instructors will prepare the participants to attend – and more thoroughly appreciate – the American Shakespeare Center’s February 2012 performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Working with two instructors, participants will listen to lecture, share their own ideas about the play in discussion, learn about historical and cultural contexts of the play, watch video clips from cinematic and theatrical productions, and perform a staged-reading of a portion of the play. For this final element, no memorization is necessary, but all participants are asked come prepared to have fun!

This program is co-sponsored by the Huntsville Literary Association.

Participants will need any standard edition of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and should read Acts 1 & 2 for the first class, Acts 3 & 4 by the second class, and Act 5 for the final class.